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Friday, July 8, 2016

In April 1815 Mount Tambora in the Indonesian archipelago erupted sending a giant cloud of ash and sulfuric acid into the atmosphere. Over the next year this cloud spread around the Northern Hemisphere altering the weather.

1816 was the year with a chilly spring and a disastrous summer for much of North America and Europe.

Prepared initially for the Journal Opinion

Weather and climate are always topics for conversation. The
current news gives us plenty to consider. World-wide, 2014 was the hottest year
on record and 2015 was even hotter. Climate change and the impact of El Nino
greatly diminished the most recent winter.

But 200 years ago this month, one of the most unusual summer
to pass in northern New England was just about to get started. This column
deals with the weather in and around 1816. Information was gathered from state
and town histories, old newspaper articles and 1816 The Year Without Summer by William and Nicholas Klingaman.

In a region where aberrations in the weather are normal,
1816 was really abnormal. It was a year with a lost summer. It was a year that
was talked about for decades and spawned both scientific studies and
folktales.

The 500 years before 1816 were part of a period of global
cooling known as the Little Ice Age.Settlers in the region experienced unusually late and early frosts from
time to time. In 1783 Thomas Johnson of Newbury reported that a frost on August
9 killed most of the corn crop. The decade following 1810 was for many the
coldest 10-year period in the history of North America.

At the time there were a number of explanations for the
abnormal weather. These ranged from unusual sunspots and the use of lightning
rods to God’s displeasure of a sinful society. Current scientific evidence
points to unusual volcanic activity.

In 1809 there were several powerful eruptions in remote
tropical locations. In 1812 there were two volcanic eruptions in the Indian
Ocean and another in the Philippines in 1814. But the most significant eruption
came on Mount Tambora in the Indonesian archipelago beginning on April 5, 1815.A series of eruptions pulverized the
mountain, sending ash, dust and soot up to 25 miles in the atmosphere.

The noise of the blast could be heard over 800 miles
away.It is estimated that 15,000
residents in the vicinity of the volcano died from the blast, the ash and the
resulting tsunami and 80,000 died in the ensuing year from disease and
starvation.

Within 24 hours a giant mushroom shaped ash cloud had
covered hundreds of square miles. It was later determined that the eruption was
the largest in thousands of years and was 100 times stronger than the eruption
of Mt. St. Helens in 1980.

In addition to millions of tons of ash, a giant aerosol
cloud of sulfuric acid formed. Both ash and aerosol became suspended in the
atmosphere and spread around the world by wind patterns. The particulate
matters reflected sunlight resulting in cooler temperatures and abnormal
weather.

Almost immediately, residents of Europe and North America
noticed spectacular sunsets caused by the particles and gases in the
atmosphere. New England experienced frosts in late August and snow in September,
1815. When snow fell that winter it was often tainted brown or red.

The winter of 1815-16 was milder. The Middlebury Register reported that “January was so mild that fires
were allowed to go out except for cooking purposes.” By early March much of the
snow was gone and the Northeast experienced early spring thunderstorms.

The Klingamans explain that this mild winter was partly the
result of the Tambora cloud. Its interaction with the atmosphere led to fewer
polar incursions than normal. As spring arrived, however, cold air was free to
move down from the Arctic setting up North America and Europe for “a chilly
spring and a disastrous summer.”

Residents of Northern New England were not fully prepared
for what was to come. Most residents were subsistence farmers, depending on
annual crops for their food and fodder for cattle. In the previous decade
several major epidemics of spotted and lung fevers had sickened and killed
many.

Early spring rains and warming temperatures led to
“expectations of a fruitful season and an abundant harvest.”Late April brought a heat wave and many regional
farmers planted their crops as temperatures reached the low 80s.

May turned cold as Canadian air flowed south bringing
freezing temperatures and snow to New England.Jacob Ide of St. Johnsbury recalled that temperatures “were like that of
winter.” Early buds on plants froze. On May 16 snow fell all day in some
portions of the two states.

Temperatures during the first several days of June were
mild. But on June 5 a winter jet stream caused temperatures to plummet and then
a freak blizzard followed. Snow and hail fell throughout Vermont and New
Hampshire with some places receiving up to 12 inches of snow with drifts to
three feet.

Over the next three weeks, the region endured snow and cold
temperatures of unprecedented severity for June.Not every day was cold, but the accumulative
impact on residents was harsh.Ide
recalled that “June was the coldest month of roses ever experienced. Frost and
ice were as common as buttercups usually are.”

Sheep that had recently been shorn froze to death. Birds
that could not find shelter died.Early
crops and leaves were destroyed.Farmers
could not work their fields. Bricklayers in Bath had to quit working because
their mortar froze. Residents wore winter garments. Most agreed it was beyond
anything they had ever experienced.

Unaware of the impact of the volcano, residents sought
answers for the unusual weather. Some claimed it was the appearance of sunspots
so large they could be seen with the naked eye. Others suggested unusual
amounts of ice in the Great Lakes and North Atlantic or the cooling of the
earth’s core. Use of lightning rods, earthquakes in the Mississippi Valley, a
great comet in 1811 and the impact of deforestation were also blamed.

Many saw the hand of God at work. It was widely believed
that God controlled the natural world and used its manifestations to carry out
His will. Perhaps this unusual weather reflected God’s displeasure at a
decadent society or maybe it was a foreshadowing of the apocalypse.The Governor of New Hampshire admonished
residents to be mindful of their transgressions. Still in its infancy,
meteorology was not available to offer alternative scientific answers.

Almanacs for 1816 predicted hot weather for July. The
weather did not heed those predictions. July 4 was cool followed by frosts
throughout Northern New England on July 8 and 9. Mt. Moosilauke was white twice
that month. When warmer temperatures returned in late July, farmers were
encouraged to plant oats and late corn.Livestock suffered from lack of fodder and some farmers mowed fields of
immature corn to feed them.

During this entire summer Vermont experienced a severe
drought.Water levels in rivers, lakes
and wells sank. Smoke from forest fires blackened the sky, blocking the sun and
obscuring views everywhere.

By early August, fears of a general famine had subsided as
hopes for a harvest of some grains seemed possible. In both Claremont and
Lebanon it was reported that there was a “bountiful crop of rye.” In some
communities the wheat crop survived. On August 13 a cold wave hit the region
with frost. After a brief warmer period, frost on August 21 and again on August
28 and 29 caused residents to abandon those hopes. Some built fires around
their fields in a vain attempt to save their crops. Snow covered mountain tops
in both states.

Samuel Morey of Orford experimented with cutting the
immature corn stocks and stacking them in stooks, a method that resulted in the
ripening of some kernels. On September 5 he wrote that the area seemed
threatened with “severe scarcity.”Later
he wrote that the frost of the 28 “has put an end to the hopes of many corn
growers.” Colonel W. H. Hoffman of Lebanon is quoted as saying “there was only
six bushels of sound corn raised in the town that year.”

September only added to the misery of area residents as
black frosts hit during the last half of the month.The editor of the Vermont Journal wrote: “Never before in this vicinity [had the weather]
appeared more gloomy and cheerless than at present. It is extremely cold for
the time of year, and the drought [sic] was never before so severe.” In
Hartford as in other communities, water on ponds and rivers froze “to some
thickness.”

October and November weather added to the plight of area
residents.While there was finally some
rain, 12 inches of snow fell in Haverhill on October 17. The winter of 1816-17
was bitter cold.Snow fell in some towns
on the 5th of May, 1817. While the months that followed provided
some relief, it took another year for conditions to return to normal.

This disruptive weather had a lingering effect on the
residents .While there was starvation
elsewhere in the world, local residents made do without normal supplies of
foodstuffs. Grain prices rose. One local businessman brought a flatboat of
grain from Connecticut up the Connecticut River and sold it at greatly inflated
prices. In towns such as Newbury and Peacham, desperate farmers sought to sell
what little they had at similarly high prices.

Many who had not tasted oatmeal before came to rely on it.
It had been introduced into the area by the Scottish settlers of Ryegate. The
mill at Boltonville ran full time to grind the oats to meet the demand.Some traded maple syrup for fish brought
from the Atlantic or Lake Champlain.Others ate what they could trap or forage, including wild plants,
pigeons and even an occasional hedgehog.

The History of Ryegate
quotes one Newbury elder who recalled that “children would talk about being
good, for perhaps they would die when winter came, and would have nothing to
eat.”Farmers had to decide whether to
eat their meager corn crop or save it for seed. The drought only added to
residents’ plight as wells dropped and mills lacked water power.

The poor weather
conditions gave one more excuse to move westward.Many wondered if the climate had changed
permanently and gave in to “Ohio fever.” Some communities in Vermont and New
Hampshire lost major portions of their population as discouraged families
sought new opportunities in the Midwest.

New England was not the only region to suffer from the
impact of Tambora.Areas in the Midwest
and as far south as Virginia experienced cold spells during the period and to
varying degrees suffered crop destruction from unseasonable frost and snow and
drought. Peasant farmers from Quebec to major areas of Asia experienced
especially hard times.

Europeans also suffered greatly as crops failed from both
cold temperatures and heavy rainfall.A
poor harvest in 1815 was followed by an even poorer one in 1816.Many crops just did not grow. This
destructive weather added to the economic and social displacement of the recent
Napoleonic wars.

Throughout Europe, farmers sold off their livestock,
depressing prices. Unemployment rose. Food prices increased as grain supplies
diminished.In some areas bread prices
rose to three times the normal price. Neither private nor government charity were
able to deal with the magnitude of the problems created by the economic
situation.

Outbreaks of disease throughout Europe added to the people’s
plight. They reacted by filling churches to offer prayers for relief, by
rioting against both bakers and authorities or by migrating for better
opportunities elsewhere.Large numbers
of Europeans sought relief in the United States.

“Year without a summer”, “1816 and froze to death”, “the
mackerel year”, “the poverty year” are all titles given to the disruptions
experienced by so Northern New Englanders many during the period.Years later many elders recalled the
difficulties of residents in the two-state area. As with stories told and
retold, enhancements tended to creep in.

Since settlers first came to this region, they have
experienced anomalies in the weather and changes in the climate. There have
been colder single weeks than those of 1816, deeper snow banks and more severe
droughts, but none equal the continued onslaught of bad weather experienced in
1816.

Elders like to recall
that snow was deeper and winters more severe when they were young. They remind
their listeners that in the last century no one would plant their gardens until
Memorial Day and would expect the first frost just after Labor Day.Climate change has changed that.

A review of the weather of 200 years ago remind us that
events that occur half a world away can have a profound impact on our way of
life and that large areas of the planet are just one poor harvest away from
disaster. It is well to recall that a
volcanic eruption, melting glaciers, warm water in the Pacific or automobile
omissions elsewhere can impact when we plant our tomatoes and how much fuel we
will burn next winter.

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About Me

I am the President of the Bradford Historical Society. I retired after teaching social studies in Bradford for 42 years, beginning at Bradford Academy in 1964 and finishing at Oxbow High School in June 2006. Throughout my teaching career I emphasized local history as a bridge to understanding United States history. This column has been a major activity of my retirement and I thank those who helped me research the topics and edit the writings. The towns covered include Thetford to Ryegate in Vermont and Lyme to Haverhill in New Hampshire. I have sold out of my first book IN TIMES PAST: ESSAYS FROM THE UPPER VALLEY, which raised $5300 for the Bradford Public Library. Book Two is now available by mail for $20, check payable to the Bradford Public Library, sent to Larry Coffin, PO Box 490, Bradford,VT 05033 or purchased at local outlets.